We have met the enemy…

I’d like to introduce you to a smart man, interesting book, fascinating website and worthy movement all rolled into one.

George Trembath is a permaculturalist and lay philosopher residing in Queensland, Australia. We found each other thanks to word of GrowthBusters spreading around the world a little more than usual the last few weeks (thanks to our Kickstarter project to raise final finishing funds for the film – please make your pledge here).

George and a group of like-minded citizens have been building a movement and online community called Pachacuti. The goal is to raise awareness and debate on the intertwined subjects of human footprint, sustainability, social equality, and cultural practicality – on a global basis. And they are making very interesting use of entertainment media for much of this. There is a novel, an album of music, some very cool e-cards, and possibly a feature film in the future. I encourage you to explore the Pachacuti website.

He wrote an interesting blog post yesterday I believe is worth your while. It is mercifully brief but very insightful. Here are a few highlights (but please read his entire post, explore the Pacacuti website, and consider ordering the novel):

Hardly a day goes by that I don’t get invited to join some cause or another trying to prevent resource mining or oil-drilling in yet another sensitive ecosystem somewhere – by a civilization bent on extracting the last dollar of profit from our finite planet….

But the reality is that unless we do something about the demand that drives them, projects like this will continue to have profit-appeal and political acceptability until the very last resource is gone and the very last habitat is trashed.

In case you’re wondering, Pachacuti is an ancient Incan word, from the language of the Quechuan people of Machu Picchu: pacha – ‘the world’, and cuti – ‘upside down’. George feels that’s “a fantastic old-world word for the chaos of the current one – a civilisation in a spiral of decline that seems frighteningly terminal. Thankfully the word also means ‘restoring balance’ and ‘putting things right’ and these are the aims that drive Pachacuti.com”

I’m glad to have soul-mates around the world doing what they can to move our culture toward true sustainability. Thanks for what you do, George!

And thanks to all of you GrowthBusters supporters around the world who are pledging and encouraging others to pledge to our Kickstarter fundraising drive. We passed the 10% mark today. That’s a great milestone, but we need to kick it up a notch!